1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to implantable medical devices which deliver energy to heart tissue to stimulate cardiac contractions, and more particularly to such cardiac pacing devices that are implantable in a vein or artery.
2. Description of the Related Art
A remedy for people with slowed or disrupted natural heart activity is to implant a cardiac pacing device which is a small electronic apparatus that stimulates the heart to beat at regular rates.
Typically the pacing device is implanted in the patient's chest and has sensor electrodes that detect electrical impulses associated with in the heart contractions. These sensed impulses are analyzed to determine when irregular cardiac activity occurs, in which event a pulse generator is triggered to produce electrical pulses. Wires carry these pulses to patch-type stimulation electrodes placed adjacent specific cardiac muscles, which when electrically stimulated contract the heart chambers. It is important that the stimulation electrodes be properly located to produce contraction of the heart chambers.
Modern cardiac pacing devices vary the stimulation to adapt the heart rate to the patient's level of activity, thereby mimicking the heart's natural activity. The pulse generator modifies that rate by tracking the activity at the sinus node of the heart or by responding to other sensor signals that indicate body motion or respiration rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,953 describes a cardiac pacemaker that has a pacing device, which can be located outside the patient, to detect irregular or weak cardiac activity. In that event, the pacing device emits a radio frequency signal, that is received by a circuit mounted on a stent implanted in a vein or artery of the patient's heart. Specifically, the radio frequency signal induces a voltage pulse in an antenna on the stent and that pulse is applied across a pair of electrodes on the stent, thereby stimulating adjacent muscles and contracting the heart. Although this cardiac pacing apparatus offered several advantages over other types of pacemakers, it required placement of sensing electrodes on the patient's chest in order for the external pacing device to detect when the heart requires stimulation.